**Arsenal**are hanging on dearly to their hopes of a Women’s Super League title for the first time since 2019, and an important conversation came into the light after those aspirations were dented last week.
The Gunners were five points adrift of reigning champions Chelsea, whom they hosted in a critical clash for the title race at the Emirates Stadium. Alyssa Thompson took the lead for the visitors with an early finish but Alessia Russo rewarded the resolve of her team with a leveller in the 87th minute.
However, the score should have gone the way of the hosts, who were denied two second half goals.
Slegers’ source of frustration
Stina Blackstenius put the ball in the back of the net eight minutes after the restart from a corner kick, but the referee had ruled out the effort for a handball from the Swedish striker. Replays would show that the ball had hit her thigh, as opposed to her hand, but the decision could not be overturned.
To make matters worse, the officials cut short celebrations of a late winner for the Gunners. Frida Maanum broke through the lines to dispatch a shot past Hannah Hampton in the 90th minute. The goal was chalked off because she was deemed to be offside, but the footage proved to be inconclusive.
Renee Slegers has spoken on the situation, signalling serious debate needs to take place on the matter.
The **Arsenal**head coach had to try to contain her frustration after the two controversial incidents.
“In a game like this we need just decisions. We need justice. That’s where I think VAR and technology can come in. There’s more and more at stake in the WSL, at the top but also in the relegation battle and everywhere in between. We have to look at how we grow the game in all aspects.”
The Dutchwoman accepted that the margins were so fine in the case of the offside decision, but when a decision is so clear cut, the implementation of technology feels like a logical move to make.
The media probed further for her thoughts on the topic before the North London derby as **Arsenal**travel to **Tottenham**to play at Brisbane Road on Sunday afternoon. There are constraints that must be acknowledged if a transition to VAR went ahead, but Slegers is still sure it would be beneficial.
“It needs to be made possible on all grounds, finance is included, there’s education included, it’s quite a big piece. But what I want with the game, is just decisions, as much as possible. There’s more at stake also in the WSL. The club is pushing and the league is pushing to move that forward as well.”
It is not the first time that big figures in the women’s game have lent their support to the idea of VAR.
The outsider opinions
**Chelsea**icon Emma Hayes voiced her anger at the lack of technology in the WSL back in September 2021 after a controversial goal went the way of **Arsenal**in a 3-2 defeat for the Blues. With the greater television coverage of such high stakes fixture, Hayes felt that players in the women’s game were being treated like “second-class citizens”, demanding that the FA look into implementing VAR.
However, her cries fell upon deaf ears. It is understood that the FA believed that installation of this technology would come at too great of a cost for the women’s game given its financial situation. In addition to this, some sides played at stadiums where facilities for VAR ‘could not be accommodated.’
Slegers is fighting against the tide to try to push for technology to take the women’s game to the next level. However, it would also be too easy to assume that VAR would be completely a force for good.
**England**legend Fara Williams produced a column for TNT Sports that took the other angle on the VAR conversation earlier this week. In her view, lessons need to be learned from the men’s game.
Ever since the disallowed Gabriel Jesus goal against **West Ham**in 2019, VAR has generated debate about what ‘justice’ really means in the game. If the most marginal decisions are scrutinised by the letter of the law, it seems the purpose of this technology is to bring the game closer to ‘perfection.’
In reality, it is the imperfection of the sport that is part of its beauty, and it has taken time for viewers of the game to get used to a different standard of officiating— which itself can never be wholly consistent. Not every call is black and white, and even if VAR has allowed referees to make more correct decisions, the support for this technology in the men’s game is far from unanimous.
Tools like goal line technology may offer a middle ground that permit officials to be on the right side of clear cut calls without the risk of the game being ‘re-refereed’ with all the pitfalls of VAR.
There are no easy answers, but what is certain is that the women’s game cannot hide away from these talking points as it continues to develop. For now, Slegers and her peers will have to ‘control the controllables’ and do what they can to avoid being the victims of such misfortunate circumstances.